The dehydration of alcohols to form ethers and/or olefins is well known. These reactions are readily accomplished by using sulfuric or phosphoric acid, methods applied successfully to such high molecular weight alcohols as 1-dodecanol. However, because of the prevalence of side reactions, e.g., rearrangement, the olefin producing reactions are not as widely applicable as those where such by-product formation is minimized. Thus, a variety of metal oxides, such as aluminum oxide, chromium (III) oxide, titanium oxide and tungsten oxide, have been successfully employed in such dehydrations, as have sulfides, other metallic salts and zeolites. Other dehydrating agents include phosphorous pentoxide, potassium acid sulfate and anhydrous copper (II) sulfate. See, for example, page 902, March, et al., Advanced Organic Chemistry, 3rd Edition, 1985.
Conventionally, acids can be readily converted to their amides by the action of ammonia on their ester, acid chloride or anhydride derivatives. The hydrolysis of nitriles to carboxylic acids is known to proceed through an isolable amide intermediate, the tautomer of such amide being a hydroxyimine. No facile preparation of unsaturated amides has been reported. However, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,105 and 3,513,186. Accordingly, there is unsaturated amides such as 2-(4-isobutylbenzene)acrylamide.